I've been seeing Battle of the Bulge Sherman's in my neck of t he woods at Wal-Mart (under the Motorworks brand, which is what all the new stuff's been coming in as). You may want t keep your eyes peeled on that one guys.

The M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle is there also, and let me say that it's a great vehicle if you're wanting something to haul your BBI Marines around in. Full interior, hatches, etc... This vehicle is regarded as a dandy.

Both have die-cast bodies as well, not plastic, so we're talking some damn heavy tanks here. Seriously... I'll have 2 Shermans (bought one, ahve one on lay-a-way). They come with the BoB Tanker as well, and a nice dusted paintscheme. Good stuff.

I just wish the Sherman had an interior. That saddens me, because it really deserves one. Perhaps a custom at some point...

And on 21st Century Toys News...

An email to a member at GP's site originally said that 1:18 was going to be toned down, but that was turned around by a 21st Cent. Toys executive seemingly immediately.

2004 is said t be a focus on 1:18, so take that with a grain of salt (how many times has 21st promsied crap and reniged?), but here's a mere TASTE of what's to come (supposedly).

-1:18 marines (7 figures)-1:18 Jap. Infantry (7 figures)-1:18 Battle of the Bulge Germans and U.S. (7 figures... I have the U.S. and they kick ass plain and simple)-1:18 German tanks (Mostly winter camo versions)-1:18 U.S. tanks (Same camo versions as Germans)-1:18 self-proppelled gun-1:18 German & US Troop Trucks-1:18 Artillery Piece (?)-1:18 Abrahams Tank (gloated as superior to anything on the market... god willing we actualy get to SEE it)-1:18 Afghannistan Freedom Fighters (Or Taliban Troops if you're doing what I am with them! )

And more.........

So, this guy gloats that there's gonna be a lot of 1:18 and it's going to mostly be ground forces, and that 21st is going to run with "themes" like Battle of the Bulge, to coincide with their releases.

Believe what you want... I'm hopeful, but hesitant to put my faith in a company that is this unreliable. 21st Cent. Toys just rarely ever comes through.

I am finding armor though now, so there's some hope.

21st makes arguably some of the best action figures in 1:18 scale... Far superior to Hasbro's standard Star Wars figures, and at least comparable to the 1st series BBI figures... Will 21st come through with all this though? That is the million $ question I think.

I'm tired of the BS. Bring it to the table or fold the company... That's my view at this point. If you can't "run with the big dogs" as it were... We shall see though.

Talk of "Big Birds" coming out is swirling, and an image of a B-17 (Yes, I'm not giving you **** here, I said a B-17) have surfaced...

Will they make the famed "Flying Fortress" of World War II? Possibly the most recognizeable plane of the war, which would sport a 5 FEET + wide wingspan?

OOOOoooo baby. I don't have much room but you bet your sweet ass I'd own one of these, come hell or high water!

Not sure they're actually gonna make these or not... There's a lotta "talk" swirling about what 21st is GOING to do this year and into the next couple years, but what they WILL do is something else.

If I can last these dormant days though, you guys can too. Don't give up all hope and let us just wish for these things.

I say though, if 21st DOES make a 1:18 B-17 then Hasbro better get their **** together and start making scale vehicles. Their stuff isn't even NEAR the level of detail, quality, or complexity of 21st so they can really at least improve their LITTLE vehicles like the AT-ST, Y-Wing, B-Wing, and TIE FIghter... Good God there H, get with the times... Especially if vehicles are just aimed at collectors like you always tend to claim.

I'm just scared on what cost could be for this... $40-$50 for a regular plane could translate into pretty darn expensive for a B-17.

Just having that though, with a full crew, would rock. I'd be one happy camper if it was the only large plane they ever made, though a jump plane or glider (or both) for my D-Day paratroopers would be lovely.

Maybe they bogarted the Modular Millenium Falcon that I and a couple others have tossed around Star Wars forums for years? You'd be getting a ship darn near the same size as this plane's reported to be. I really hope they go through with this.

This would be just so sweet...

I'll all for buying this, seriously. I've never wanted to pick up an expensive item so badly before, short of a car.

21st's Spitfires are out and about, though I've never seen one at a store, nor a P-40 Warhawk. A shame too because the Spit's a plane I'd actually enjoy owning.

I saw one version of each at the Toy show in Pittsburgh this past weekend and they're nice. Neat figures too sort of.

BBI's site is updated too, with more figure photos including some foreign guys (brits it would appear), and U.S. Army figures... Not the Army Special Forces, just basic grunts.

Also, the F18 is up I believe, which is F'n huge. The G.I. Joe Skystriker just took a back seat, as did any of the planes 21st's made as far as size comparisons... This thing's big looking. Wow... I ain't buying it because of room, but I would otherwise.

And on a plus side, the BBI LAV is on sale at most TRU's. $10 off its retail. For $30 it's not bad... $40 was way too much to me though.

The Abrahams is too, from what I hear, and they're cleared out of my TRU's so I'm wagering the stories are true that the Abrahams got clearanced too. BBI's great, but their vehicles in their last series were lacking. Non-moving hatches (most of them) and molded detail instead of separate pieces put these a notch below their 1st series stuff and their choppers.

I hope they step it up a notch on the vehicles, and improve their figures SLIGHTLY. Some sculpting/construction methods on the figures, and better articulation style, would help them tremendously! Then jump into WW2 please BBI because youo're the only one putting figures out aside from Dragon...

Oh, that reminds me, Dragon's put out 2 series of U.S. infantry I believe... Northern France 44, which look great, and I thought I saw some more classic looking infantry uniforms for another series? I forget. I wanna nab them though.

And they did some nice camo Germans too... Wish I had the $ to nab all those sets.

Hell I'd have nabbed one from you. It's nowhere to be found here and one of the few planes I'd like to own. I guess WM's distribution of XD's been a regional disaster.

The Checkertail P-47 was here while others never got it... Then certain ones of the choppers are here that nobody else got... We got the Winter Sherman (made with die-cast metal too, that's a heavy ass vehicle) and NATO camo Bradley are here too (Love the Sherman) but I guess others had a hell of a time finding them.

Go figure, ya know?

XD's going in the toilet if they DO NOT get figures out though, and en masse. Not sporatic online crap, but actual on-the-pegs figures and not just a wave a year. To me, the figure's are the staple product... THe anchor. The vehicles are secondary. Till XD gets that in their mind, they won't have a take-off line.

I think they're not jumping on figures because of the way WM is sticklers about shelf-space devotion, and that Germans will go over as well there as they did at TRU. It's a shame the public at large shuns German soldiers as all "Nazi". It cheapens German veterans to me, but I guess they deserve no respect in some people's eyes. Most U.S. vets still give them respect though. How ironic that over-sensitive public does not.

I agree 100%, hell it's not like they're relasing Himmler with jewish corpse. I have mainly German infantry and planes from the line and you know what? I'm a jew, gasp! I'm so sick of all the PC police being the real Nazi's. End rant.

We to had the Sherman and Bradley a few months back, I almost picked it up, but I decided I'd hold onto my money.

However, here are some figures I'd like to see, pardon my spelling and historical errors in someparts:

I nabbed a busted up Stuka (flying pig) at Toys R Us today fr $24.50...

I had t haggle the price with them on it though. The canopy's smashed beyond believe, ugh. The pilots were fine though, as was MOST of the plane.

I stress MOST because one prop's also snapped off.

This is cool though fr $25, and I'm going to do a downed Stuka... Something to hopefully have with surrounding Russian Infantry someday!

I was happy with the purchase... This was one of 21st's finer plane's I think. A big honkin' pile of plastic for sure.

I wonder where this lone one came from? Must've been in stock in the back. The floor personnel at TRU were appauled that anyone put it out even, and were reluctant to sell it to me. They agreed to $24.50 saying they'd get full price from the vendor if they did a "send-back".

I got news for them, vendors with which you no longer do business are not obligated to take back product. There's no 21st/TRU contract, so there's no sending crap back. I felt like pulling that card on them, but figured $25's not horrible, and I can patch the canopy together and claim it as part of the ultimate battle damage I'm gonna dose her with.

Spitfires and P-40 Warhawks are across the country, and many are sold through already. Wal-Mart sucks is all I can say. These never hit here in Pittsburgh as near as I can tell or I'd have had a Spitfire no doubt. That's a fine plane.

With that said...

The Battle of the Bulge figures are supposedly on their way, both U.S. and Germans. They're shipping soon to E-Tailers like Bad Cat Toys but over at GP's there a couple options to getting them! I'm just not sure who all.

Bad Cat has a case assortment of them for $6.25 per figure before shipping. Gotta buy by the case though right now.

They are ALSO shipping with Patton figures though.

The assortment I saw at Bad Cat was like 12 figures, and sported 2 of each German, 1 of each Patton figure, and then the rest were U.S. figures (I guess since they'd already seen some limited release to TRU before the deal ended).

Beyond that, little of note figure-wise. I wish 21st would get their asses in gear on figures. They really need to have a steady release of NEW figures throughout the year before pissing with all these planes. I like planes sometimes, but due to space and cost I can't buy them all. Figures though, I'd buy at least one of each, and likely multiples of the most "generic" guys too.

Gimme some leathernecks and japs to duke it out please! Some Russians, Brits, French Reisstance, and some resculpts of U.S. and German infantry wouldn't hurt either, know what I mean?